1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to card insertion systems and methods.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.197-1.99
Credit card encoding and verification systems which create embossed and encoded information on plastic or metal cards from stored information, such as credit cards, debit cards, and the like are well known. Examples of such apparatus are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,544 of Hill et al. entitled xe2x80x9cAutomatic Verified Embossed Card Package Production Methodsxe2x80x9d issued Feb. 27, 1996.
Likewise, it is known to automatically mount or attach credit cards to, or insert credit cards into, carrier mailing forms by the inserters as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,210 of Hill et al. entitled xe2x80x9cCredit Card Carriers and Methods of Manufacturexe2x80x9d issued Jul. 5, 1977; U.S. Pat. No. B1 4,194,685 of Hill et al. entitled xe2x80x9cVerifying Insertion System Apparatus and Method of Operationxe2x80x9d issued Feb. 19, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,217 entitled xe2x80x9cVerifying Insertion System and Apparatusxe2x80x9d issued Jan. 31, 1984 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,815 of Hill et al. entitled xe2x80x9cEmbossed Card Package Production System with Modular Inserters for Multiple Forms and Verification Apparatusxe2x80x9d issued Feb. 14, 1995.
While such combination encoder, verification, and insertion mechanisms have met with some success, they are known to suffer from certain disadvantages. Known systems are not capable of simultaneously reading all of the different sources of card information on the cards and thereby are disadvantageously limited in speed of operation.
It is therefore the a principle object of the present invention to provide a card package production system for producing card packages, each with at least one card bearing card information at a plurality of different card information locations on the card, with a card multireader having an elongate card track with a succession of reading stations located along the track with readers for respectively reading the card information at the different locations on the card and simultaneously sliding a plurality of the cards along the track in seriatim relationship through the succession of reading stations for simultaneous reading of the information at the different locations on the cards by the readers.
The object is also achieved by having the elongate track providing underlying support of the planer cards with the plane of the cards in a substantially horizontal position and providing a plurality pusher members for pushing the cards along the card track to said succession of reading stations, respectively.
The object is also achieved by providing a plurality of readers that read card information at different locations on the cards are different types of readers which read different types of information, providing a lateral reject station located along the track after the succession of reading stations with means for laterally removing rejected cards from the elongate track which have been improperly coded, and providing a pocket station located along the track after the succession of reading stations, said pocket station including means for laterally removing a card from the track to a pocket position for attachment to a carrier form.
The object is further achieved by providing a computer chip reading assembly including a chip reader with a plurality of contacts for making electrical contact with corresponding terminals of a computer chip carried by the card, mounting the plurality of contacts for lateral movement toward and away from the terminal, and laterally moving said contacts into engagement with the corresponding terminals after the card has been moved to the reading station of the chip reader.
The object is also achieved by providing a control system for the simultaneous sliding including a sensor at each of said plurality of reading stations to detect when a card is present at the reading station.
The object is further achieved by providing a card feeder assembly for feeding cards into the elongate track having a pair of card hoppers for respectively storing two stacks of cards to be read, and providing a pair of picker mechanisms respectively associated with the pair of card hoppers for picking the bottom card of each stack to remove it from the stack, and a bidirectional motor linked to both of the pair of picker mechanisms to selectively drive the picker mechanism in opposite directions to alternatively drive the pair of picker mechanisms to remove the cards from the associated pair of hoppers.
The object is also achieved by providing a method of reading the card information, comprising the steps of simultaneously sliding a plurality of cards along the track in seriatim relationship through a succession of reading stations and simultaneously reading the card information at the different locations on the card with different readers at the succession of reading stations, providing underlying support of the cards with the plane of the cards in a substantially horizontal position, and pushing the cards along the card track to said succession of reading stations, respectively.
The object is also achieved by providing a method of reading card information at different locations including, different types of readers which read different types of information, laterally rejecting cards from the elongate track which have been improperly coded, and laterally removing a card from the track which has been properly encoded to a pocket position for attachment to a carrier form.
The object is further achieved by providing a method including the steps of reading a computer chip carried by the card with a computer chip reading assembly having a chip reader with a plurality of contacts for making electrical contact with corresponding terminals of the computer chip carried by the card, mounting said plurality of contacts for lateral movement toward and away from the terminal, and sliding means for laterally moving said contacts into engagement with the corresponding terminals after the card has been moved to the reading station of the chip reader.
The object is also achieved by providing a method for controlling the simultaneous sliding having a sensor at each of said plurality of reading stations to detect when a card is present at the reading station.
Moreover the object is achieved by providing a method of feeding cards into the elongate track having including the steps of storing two stacks of cards to be read within a pair of card hoppers respectively, picking the bottom card of each stack to remove it from the stack with a pair of picker mechanisms respectively associated with the pair of card hoppers, selectively driving the picker mechanism in opposite directions with a bidirectional motor to alternatively drive the pair of picker mechanisms to remove the cards from the associated pair of hoppers.